Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Cardinals Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury praised backup RB Chase Edmonds and said he will be more than just an insurance policy for starter Kenyan Drake.

Drake arrived in Arizona from Miami midway through last season and finished the year on a blistering pace while Edmonds remained in a backup role. The article from the Cardinals website makes it clear that Drake is still the lead back in Arizona, but it appears that Kingsbury may have more planned for Edmonds than simply spelling Drake when he needs a rest. Edmonds is a high-upside late round pick.

Coach Kliff Kingsbury said Monday that he expects Chase Edmonds (hamstring) to play in the Cardinals' Week 13 matchup with the Rams, Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com reports.

Related players: David Johnson, Kenyan Drake

Since Edmonds got hurt, Drake has pretty much taken over the backfield duties. We can only assume Drake continues to get a majority of the workload, but it's possible Edmonds sees a similar role to what he had before he got hurt. Outside of a 27-126-3 line against the Giants, Edmonds averaged between 5-8 carries between weeks 4-7. Meanwhile, Johnson can't be trusted in lineups. He got zero touches in Week 11.

David Johnson has all but officially been benched by the Arizona Cardinals, even though head coach Kliff Kingsbury said the team was in a "running back-by-committee" approach heading into Sunday's game against the San Francisco 49ers. Johnson was a non-factor in the team's 36-26 loss in Week 11, having no touches and playing just nine snaps.

"It's not as much as what he's not showed us," Kingsbury said about Johnson after the game. "KD (Kenyan Drake), like I said, played really well against them the first game if you remember so we wanted to get him going again in this game versus them."

Related players: Chase Edmonds

It's possible Johnson is hurt, although why wouldn't the team just admit that. Johnson also wasn't on the injury report, but the story said he's possibly still dealing with a bad back. The Cards have a bye in Week 12 and Johnson has now played just 41 snaps with six carries for four yards over the last three games. It's still worth holding Johnson, at least to see if this is injury-related. Edmonds is due back after the bye week, so it admittedly doesn't look good for Johnson and his owners right now.

Kliff Kingsbury didn't commit to how his benching of David Johnson will impact Johnson's role in coming games.

"We'll put the best guys out there each week that we feel like give us the best chance to win, and that can change week in and week out," Kingsbury said.

Related players: Kenyan Drake, Chase Edmonds

The story went on to say that Kingsbury said Johnson has obviously been hampered by back and ankle injuries and is still working through those. And, the coach wanted to get Drake going. Johnson is going to be tough to trust in lineups until we see more production. The team also isn't sure about Edmonds status for Week 11 but the team said they would expect him "hopefully in the near future."

It’s clear Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson is not the same player he was in 2016.

After a fumble in the 30-27 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he didn’t get another touch. Johnson, once a staple of the offense, was not on the field during crunch time.

Instead, newcomer Kenyan Drake, just two games into his Cardinals career, was the one who got a handoff out of the shotgun on the first play of the final drive of the game.

Related players: Chase Edmonds

The Cardinals acknowledged Johnson not getting any touches after the fumble was a coach's decision. The story said Johnson has been slower this year and not hitting the holes like he did in the past. The story added when Edmonds returns, Johnson's role will be a huge question, as if it's not already. Johnson doesn't exactly look like a safe play heading into Week 11 even if Edmonds has to sit again.